EXCLUSIVE: The battle of the big two supermarkets is to heat up with Coles appointing its first loyalty scheme agency to manage a program that will rival Woolworths Everyday Rewards.
Lavender will handle Coles’ customer relationship management (CRM) program, FlyBuys. It’s unclear if Coles will rebrand the program.
Earlier this year, Coles took full ownership of FlyBuys after buying out National Australia Bank’s 50% stake. FlyBuys was launched in 1994 and claims to be Australia’s oldest loyalty program, with more than 10 million members.
A Coles spokesperson confirmed the appointment to AdNews: “Coles has appointed Lavender to work with us on direct marketing activity for FlyBuys. We felt it made sense to engage a direct marketing agency to support us as we look to reinvigorate the program.”
Woolworths Everyday Rewards has six million members. However, social researcher Neer Korn told AdNews supermarkets find it tricky to engender loyalty from consumers, with most people driven by convenience and weekly specials. He said: “They’re seen by most consumers as undifferentiated. They’re coming from a negative perception with the sense of a duopoly between Woolworths and Coles.”
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